In the second and third centuries, when the gospel message became well known in the civilized
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parts of the world (Italy and Greece), zealous Christians began to branch out, carrying the gospel to what is now Germany, the people of which were gradually becoming more civilized and intelligent. But it was not until about the fifth century, when the doctrine of the eternal torment of all not believing in Christ had been
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generally accepted, that foreign missions among the barbaric races became popular.

Of all the means in use for preaching the good tidings of the Kingdom, this work yields the most favorable results; and we praise God that he is sending more laborers into this harvest work, and that those already in it give evidence
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of being so filled with the spirit of the gospel and so consecrated to its service. The circulation of the MILLENNIAL DAWN in its three volumes during the past twelve months has reached nearly 85,000 copies; and these have been circulated almost exclusively by the Colporteurs-- including under this name not only those who give their entire time to this work, but also those of you who are doing what you can in a humble, quiet way about your homes--selling, loaning or giving books to such as have an ear to hear the Truth. While congratulating you all and ourselves upon the results of our united efforts under our dear Master's blessing and guidance, we start upon another year hoping for still greater blessings in his cause and name. The statements on the printed slips in November TOWER of what you hope to be able to do in this cause during the year beginning have been very helpful and encouraging to us; and the kind words accompanying were no less appreciated --assuring us as they did that you are glad to be reminded of the Apostles' advice on the subject, and to be thus assisted in ordering your affairs to the Lord's praise.

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"THE VOICE IS NIGH THEE."

"Where art thou, Lord?" we sometimes cry
From hearts with pain and anguish riven,
And wonder in our sorrow why
No answer comes from his far Heaven.
Filled with our grief, we do not know
That softly, gently, through our woe,
His voice is whispering tenderly,
"Lo, I that speak to thee am He."

"Where art thou, Lord?" we sometimes say,
As clouds of unbelief and doubt
Sweep darkly o'er our onward way
And crowd his loving presence out.
We shrink back as they draw more near,
And, looking at them, do not hear
His voice still saying lovingly,
"Lo, I that speak to thee am He."

"Where art thou, Lord?" we've sometimes said,
As error, all the wide world through,
Stalks onward with triumphant tread
And crushes down the just and true.
We catch the sound of strife and fear,
But, through the discord, do not hear
That sweet voice sounding steadily,
"Lo, I that speak to thee am He."

"Where art thou, Lord?" we sometimes sigh,
From beds of weariness and pain,
The while his husbandmen go by
To gather in his fields of grain.
And longing with them forth to go,
We miss his gentle accents, low,
That through our pain would constantly
Say, "I that speak to thee am He."

"Where art thou, Lord?" some glorious day
We'll ask upon the heavenly shore,
As 'mid the angel hosts we stray,
Our pilgrim journey safely o'er.
Our hearts will find no resting place
Until before his glorious face
The blessed words to us shall be,
"Lo, I that speak to thee am He."--Selected.

In view of the blasphemous explanation now being given by some, of this passage of Scripture, we are reminded that this is but a fulfilment of the divine forewarnings through the apostles and prophets. In this connection we notice that Paul says, "Perilous times will come" (2 Tim. 3:1); and then he describes at great length the class of men from whom we are to expect the perils. And that we might at once recognize them so as to have nothing whatever to do with them, he adds, those "Having the form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." (2 Tim. 3:5.) The importance of this admonition will be seen when it is understood that Jesus' death is made the power or source of godliness to them that believe. In harmony with this view Paul says, "I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you...by which also ye are saved...unless ye have
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believed in vain...how that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures." (1 Cor. 15:1-3.) For "Ye are bought with a price" (1 Cor. 6:20), "Redeemed...with the precious blood of Christ." (1 Pet. 1:18,19.) In this way Jesus, by the sacrifice of his life as a human being, obtained the right to mankind, having bought them from Justice with the price. This he did in order that God could maintain his Justice and at the same time receive all sinners who would come to him through their appointed substitute; for "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isa. 53:6.) Therefore those who come through Jesus are "justified freely by his [God's] grace [favor] through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,... through his blood." (Rom. 3:24-26.) The sinner thus justified is reckoned holy or godly, having secured "the gift of [attributed] righteousness. ...For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." (Rom. 5:17,19.) Therefore Jesus' death is made the power or source of godliness. (1 Cor. 1:23,24.) Then to deny in any manner, either by word or implication, that Jesus gave up his life (died) as the price of our redemption is to deny the power of godliness. This, Paul said some would do, while they would maintain the outward appearance of being godly.

And fourthly, do not overlook the blessed assurances of verses 9,10--"The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea"--full, broad, ample and deep. Ah, no conflicting creeds then; for all will be made plain and all the vain traditions of men will have perished. And in that day the Root of Jesse shall stand for an ensign of the people; to him shall the nations come to inquire, and his resting-place shall be glorious. (Verse 10.) Here, he who in verse one is called the Branch out of the root of Jesse--the Son of Jesse--is now called the Root (or father) of Jesse. And this seeming contradiction is not an accidental misstatement but a veritable truth; for though Christ was the Son of Jesse according to the flesh, he is now to be "the Everlasting Father" or life-giver to the whole human race; so that Jesse, in the "Times of Restitution of all things," will be the son of Christ.--Isa. 9:6.

In the blessed assurance of our Golden Text, that "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth," and all the accompanying assurances of that precious psalm, let our hearts rejoice, remembering also that when he shall appear in his kingdom, then shall we also (if faithful unto death) appear with him in glory.--Col. 3:4.

We next notice (verse 1) that this song is sung "in the land of Judah," thus indicating what is elsewhere clearly shown, that Israel will be the first to recognize the Kingdom established.
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And they will say, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation." --Isa. 25:9.

Verse 2. "Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth [observeth or regardeth] the truth may enter in." From Rev. 21:12 we learn that the gates or entrances of the city, which are twelve in number, are inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. This is in harmony with what we have learned of the earthly phase of the Kingdom of God (see MILLENNIAL DAWN, Vol. I., Chapter XIV.), that the ancient worthies from the various tribes of Israel, selected during the Jewish age, will be the visible representatives of the heavenly Kingdom in the earth, through whose instrumentality the nations may enter into the blessings of the Kingdom.

Verses 3,4 tell of the peace and general advantages of trusting in God. Verse 7 tells how plain he has made the path of the just--"The way of the just is plain: thou makest exactly plain the path of the just."--Leeser.

In verses 8,9 they tell how, through the long night of their chastisement, when the judgments of the Lord were upon them, they still remembered the Lord and desired his favor and blessing; and they justify God in sending his chastisements upon them for their correction, because they were necessary.

Verses 10,11 note the fact that the remainder of the world have not yet recognized and submitted themselves to the new Kingdom, but that they shall yet see and be ashamed of their past course, and that God will surely destroy any who persistently remain enemies.

Verse 12 expresses their confidence in God, who has cared for them in the past and ordained peace for them now, since they have come to trust in him.

Verses 13,14 refer to the contrast of their condition under the Kingdom of God with that under other rulers or lords of the past--the evil governments and systems under which they have suffered privation and bitter persecution. Henceforth they desire to make mention only of the Lord as their King and to forget the bitterness and woe of the past while cast off from his favor and subject to other rulers; for they remember that those evil governments and systems have perished, never again to be reorganized to oppress and misrule the world.

Verse 15 again refers to the blessedness of Israel regathered under divine protection and favor--Israel, which for their sins had been scattered to the ends of the earth.

All thinking men, whether they have faith in the Word of prophecy or not, see in the present attitude of mankind in general a growing tendency which threatens such a culmination,
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and they stand in fear and dread of it. As a consequence, the daily papers and the weeklies and monthlies, religious and secular, are continually discussing the prospects of war in Europe. They note the grievances and ambitions of the various nations and predict that war is inevitable at no distant day, that it may begin at any moment between some of the great powers, and that the prospects are that it will eventually involve them all. And they picture the awful calamity of such an event in view of the preparations made for it on the part of every nation. For several years past thoughtful observers have said, War cannot be kept off much longer: it must come soon--"next spring," "next summer," "next fall," etc.

It is written that judgment must begin at the house of God (1 Pet. 4:17), and here it has begun. Trials for heresy of many of the most prominent clerics of the various denominations
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have raised the questions, What is heresy? and what is orthodoxy? and before these questions are settled, every creed of Christendom will be brought before the bar of the public judgment.

There is but one sure, safe course for the saints to pursue if they would gain the prize of our high calling, and that is a course of fidelity and loyalty to the truth with a full determination to give no heed to seducing spirits who seek either to present to us another gospel, or to attract our attention away from the true gospel and from the one service of preaching that gospel of the Kingdom to which our lives have been consecrated, to the study of other themes and interests. Our Lord has opened up before us the chart of his wonderful plan of the ages and has shown us the written specifications, so that the things to come might be as surely known to us by faith as the things past and present are known by history and experience. He has thus taken us into his confidence as beloved sons and heirs of the kingdom to come. He showed us these things because at the time of the showing we were justified by faith in the precious blood of Christ, and consecrated to his service, and because we were meek and had faith in his Word and were loyal to him and desired to continue faithful. So we were reckoned of him as worthy of the truth and eligible to the high calling.

Hear again the word of the Lord by the Prophet Ezekiel (13:1-23) saying, "Son of man...say unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the Lord:
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Thus saith the Lord God, Woe unto the foolish prophets that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing....They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith: and the Lord hath not sent them; and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word. Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye
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say, The Lord saith it? albeit I have not spoken."

Among the things mentioned concerning that day, the Prophet (28:1) foretells woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim. As the language is symbolic, we next inquire, Who is referred to under the name Ephraim? It is the very same class mentioned in our last lesson (Isa. 26:5) as the "lofty city" that the Lord is going to bring down to the dust--that great city, "Babylon" (Rev. 16:19; 17:5; 18:2), which now proudly calls itself Christendom (Christ's kingdom). The Prophet in succeeding chapters applies to it several symbolic names. The name Ephraim here used signifies fruitful, and is symbolically applied to the great nominal Christian system, both Papal and Protestant. It has a great show of fruitfulness in number, influence, power and wealth; but this is not the kind of fruitfulness for which the Lord is looking. This he calls "hasty fruit" --sour and bitter, like that forced before the summer.--Verse 4.

Verse 1. "Woe to the crown of pride"--the worldly prosperity--the boast of the great Nominal Church. Her glory in numbers and wealth and power is a fading flower. Who can not see it, in this day when her position is disputed and her doctrines and authority are boldly called in question? Her "beauty" crown the "fat valleys" of worldly-mindedness where many are overcome, intoxicated, with the spirit of the world. The trouble or "woe" on these systems is beginning to be experienced, and will be continually increasing.

Verse 2. The "mighty and strong one" is the Lord, whose instrument is the Truth, which, "like a flood of mighty waters" (Water is a symbol of truth), is destined to cover the earth --"The knowledge of the Lord shall fill the earth as the waters cover the sea." It will come as "a tempest of hail and a destroying storm." Hail represents truth put in a hard, forcible way; and "a tempest of hail" indicates the destructive and forceful method which the Lord will adopt. Thus the Truth will batter down the old and long-established errors upon which the great systems of "Christendom" have been built. The Lord has refrained from the separating of the wheat and tares until this time of harvest; now he will separate them, glorify the "wheat," and cast the "tares" into the fiery furnace of a time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation (Matt. 13:30). Thus he will do "his work, his strange work,
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and bring to pass his act, his strange act" (verse 21)--viz.: the bringing down to the earth and laying low of great Babylon-- Christendom.

Verse 3. "The crown of pride"--the wealth and fame and prestige of these great systems, together with all who have been intoxicated with their worldly spirit shall be "trodden under foot"--humbled in the dust. Compare Rev. 18:2,5.

Verse 4. In rejecting the Lord's plans and adopting plans of their own, the various nominal churches have had great fruitfulness in numbers, etc., but the fruit is not good. It is "hasty," immature fruit. Thousands of such have been brought into the various nominal churches whose hearts remained unchanged, and hypocrites of every shade also find a home there, until, in the language of Inspiration, "Babylon has become the hold of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird."--Rev. 18:2.

Verse 5. Unto "the residue of his people" --those who are truly consecrated to the Lord and who follow his leading, who love and obey his truth--the Lord will be for a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty. They are his betrothed and will shortly be exalted as his bride and joint-heir. To all such who are still in Babylon as wheat in the midst of tares he says, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues."--Rev. 18:4.

Verse 6. The Lord will give judgment, discretion, to those who endeavor to discern between truth and error, and who bring all things both new and old to the test of his Word. His strength will also be given to those who battle against the forces of error--who endeavor to "turn the battle at the gate." The gates of ancient cities were generally important places in the defence of the city and there courts of justice, public assemblies, etc., were often held. To turn the battle at the gate would, therefore, in symbolic language, signify public effort to withstand error with the truth, even in the strongholds of error. For this God will and now does give strength to his people, so that one may "chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight."

Verse 7. "But they also"--to whom the people look as leaders and teachers, viz.: the clergy--"have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way: the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink, they err in vision, they stumble in judgment." Here, in harmony with the symbolic character of the prophecy, we see that the wine and strong drink are also symbols--symbols, too, of something bad, something deceptive in its character and
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intoxicating in its effects--hence, indirectly, a rebuke to the evil thing itself. But as a symbol what does it mean? It is a forceful symbol of the spirit of the world, the love of the world and of the world's approval and emoluments, with which spirit all the systems of Christendom are intoxicated, especially the "priests and the prophets"--the leaders and teachers in Babylon. Therefore do they "err in vision and stumble in judgment." It is for this very reason that they cannot understand this prophecy which we are now considering. They are so infatuated with the greatness of their antichristian systems that in their pride they cannot see its application to them; and in their blindness they set forth these verses as a lesson on temperance in the use of intoxicating beverages, taking no notice of the time of its application --"In that day" (verse 5)--nor to its symbolic and prophetic character. Truly, said the Prophet, "they err in vision, they stumble in judgment."

Verse 8. "For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean." "Here is a forceful statement of the condition of affairs of which we are all witnesses today. The Calvinistic tables are all so polluted with the rejected dogmas swallowed in the past, that people are now turning away in disgust from the tables around which they formerly gathered so complacently. The Arminian tables are almost equally polluted, so that Methodists are beginning to discuss the propriety of absolving the laity from all doctrinal tests, lest they lose a large proportion of their membership. And truly, look where we will, through all the sects of "Christendom," as the Prophet says, "There is no place clean"--no table fit for God's intelligent children. But God is providing "meat in due season" now for all who hunger and thirst after righteousness, outside of Babylon. "My table thou hast furnished in the presence of mine enemies," the true Church may still sing.

Verse 9. Here the Prophet raises the question, "Whom shall he [the Lord] teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine?" In other words, Who among all this people, who are in this miserable plight, are worthy of the truth which is now due to the faithful? Will he give it to the drunken? or will he give it to those who are satisfied with their polluted tables? or to those who have no hungering and thirsting after truth prompting them to seek it? No, the Prophet says he will give it "to them that are weaned from the milk
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and drawn from the breasts"--to them who are reaching out after more knowledge of God and of his gracious plans. Blessed are the hungry who desire more and stronger spiritual food that they may grow thereby, for they shall be filled. (Matt. 5:6.) Milk is for babes, but strong meat is for those who have passed the infant stage and who are no longer babes in Christ.--Heb. 5:14.

Verses 10-12 show that it will take a great many more lessons to help those in Babylon who are not yet ready to be helped; for he will not longer speak to them through the old tongues--the intoxicated "priests and prophets" to whom they still look for leading. But "by men of strange lips and with another tongue will he speak to his people." (R.V.) He will raise up other teachers--teachers not ordained of men, but of God--whom therefore they will not incline to recognize or heed; because they will not "prophesy smooth things," saying, Peace! peace! when there is no peace." And when these (verse 12) point out the true rest and refreshment of divine truth, they will not hear.

Verse 13 is a solemn warning of the responsibility of such; showing that when they are ensnared in the traps of error, and thereby fail of the reward of faithfulness to the truth, it will have been due to their own improper condition of heart, and not to any lack of faithfulness on God's part.

That one central or pivotal truth, is briefly expressed in our golden text--"The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." The one referred to we readily recognize by the prophetic description to be the Christ of the New Testament history. The prophecy and the fulfilment both stand out prominently on the pages of divinely-attested truth. But notwithstanding the importance of this great truth to the whole human race, the Prophet, speaking from a then future standpoint when the fulfilment of his prophecy had been accomplished, inquires, "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?"-- thus calling attention to that which we now realize, viz. that only a very few understand or appreciate the good tidings. And when we remember that faith in this message is necessary to the receiving of its benefits, it is disheartening, unless we know some of the further steps of the divine plan, to realize how few believe it. Daily there are thousands and tens of thousands, in both civilized and uncivilized lands, going down into the grave without faith, and without the least ray of hope from this precious truth. In view of these things, many seem to think that God's arm is shortened that it cannot save--except the very few who now believe.

Verses 2 and 3 describe "the man Christ Jesus," saying, "For he shall grow up before
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him [Jehovah] as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground." All humanity under the condemnation of death was reckoned dead; and this one alone, like a new, fresh, living root out of the barren soil, grew up from infancy to manhood. But, in the estimation of men, he had no desirable form nor comeliness, nor beauty. His glorious perfection made manifest their deformity; and when he declared himself the Messiah and the King of the Jews, they had no desire for such a king. They were looking for a king like Alexander the Great, or like the Caesars; one who, with military skill and carnal weapons, should deliver them from the Roman yoke. They had no faith therefore in the meek Nazarene and his claims: they saw no beauty such as they were looking for in him. Consequently, he was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was despised, and men esteemed him not. And because men lightly esteemed and even despised him, "he hid as it were his face from them." [See margin. Because of their unbelief and hardness of heart, they therefore lost the benefit of his wisdom and teaching and many of his mighty works.--Rom. 11:20; Matt. 13:58.]

Verse 4. "Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted." As a perfect man, apart from the condemned race, and having no sin nor any cause of death in him, he voluntarily bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. Though he was rich before he became a man, and though as a man he had all the talent necessary to secure earthly riches, he voluntarily became poor and remained poor --so poor that often he had not where to lay his head. Thus he was able to sympathize with the poor of this world. And though as a perfect man, without sin, and consequently without the consequences of sin, he had perfect health, yet during the three years of his ministry he was continually imparting his vitality-- vigor, strength--to the suffering ones around him, thus impoverishing himself and so being "touched with a feeling of our infirmities," as it is written: "And the whole multitude sought to touch him, for there went virtue [vitality, strength] out of him, and healed them all;" "And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me, for I perceive that virtue [vitality, strength] is gone out of me." He felt the consequent weakness.--See Luke 6:17-19; 8:46-48; Mark 5:30-34.

Verse 5. "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." The dreadful tragedy of Calvary was not for his own sins, but for ours, as also saith the Prophet Daniel (9:26)--"Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself." "He suffered for sins," says Peter, "being put to death in the flesh, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." (1 Pet. 3:18.) And Isaiah continues--verses 6 and 7 --"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord [Jehovah] hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." And meekly and willingly he bore our burden; for, though "he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." See Mark 15:3-5.

Verse 8. "Through oppression and through judicial punishment [by means of false accusations which secured a legal condemnation to death] was he taken away; but his generation --who shall declare it? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken."

"His generation." This expression may be understood in three ways truthfully, and hence properly. (1) Who of his day and generation would admit the facts?--only the very few who became his despised followers. (2) How few knew of his generation, of his divine lineage! how few believed or confessed that the despised, rejected and crucified one was the only begotten son of God, made flesh for the very purpose of thus giving himself a ransom for all! (3) But "his generation" is specially to be understood (see following verses) in the sense of his posterity. Who would suspect that he who was thus cut off childless would ever become "The Everlasting Father?" (Isa. 9:6.) Yet "he shall see his seed" (verse 10) in Jehovah's appointed season. At his second advent, times of restitution shall come (Acts 3:19-21), when, as the great Life-giver [father], he will give life and health and strength to all of Adam's
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race who will accept them under the conditions of the New Covenant. It is a gross mistake, however, to suppose that the Gospel Church is the "seed" of Christ, whether reckoned by the millions (including the black, the speckled and the ring-streaked, a worldly class, as Bishop Foster describes them) or merely the "little flock" of consecrated and faithful believers. The Church is never spoken of as the children of our Lord Jesus, either in symbol, or in type, or in literal statement. The Church "he is not ashamed to call his brethren." The bride, the Lamb's wife and joint-heir, are the honorable titles given to the little flock whom the Father, Jehovah, draws to Christ, and gives to him, as it is written, "Behold I and the children [of God] which God hath given me." (Heb. 2:11-13.) Our Lord Jesus enunciated this clearly when he said, "I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God." (John 20:17.) But after the "little flock" of the Gospel age has become the Bride and joint-heir of the Lamb, the glorified body of Christ, the new dispensation, the Millennium, will open, when the glorified Christ--Head and body--will become the Life-giver or Father to the world in general, restoring to them the human life and privileges lost in Adam but redeemed for them by the sacrifice of Christ's human life. That will be the time in which the glorified Christ in kingdom power will draw ALL MEN toward righteousness and life, even as the Father now draws the elect truth-hungry ones to Christ--as it is written, "No man can come unto me unless the Father which sent me draw him. And he [thus drawn by the truth--by the promises of God] that cometh unto me [Christ] I will in no wise reject." But as many who are now drawn or called to Christ by the Father fail to profit by the drawings of the truth, and hence to make their calling and election sure, so during the Millennial age, when Christ shall bring the whole world to a knowledge of the truth and
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thus influence or draw ALL MEN toward righteousness, it will still be for each to decide the matter for himself. Such as accept the gracious offer will receive everlasting life from Christ and his glorified Church, and will thus become the children of the Christ, and the Christ becomes to such the Everlasting Father. Thus He shall see his seed [his children] and shall prolong their days everlastingly; and thus the pleasure [will, plan] of Jehovah shall prosper in his hand.--Verse 10.

Verse 9. "And they made his grave with the condemned [Heb. rasha, condemned or guilty--i.e., with the race of condemned sinners], and with the rich in his death [in the tomb of the rich man--Joseph of Arimathea-- Matt. 27:57-60], although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth."

Verse 10 declares that all this violence that befell our blessed Lord and Redeemer was in exact accordance with the plan of Jehovah, who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son to redeem their life from destruction by the sacrifice of his own--"Although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth [and therefore no cause of death in him], yet it pleased the Lord [Jehovah] to bruise him: He hath put him to grief."

Verse 11. "He shall see [the fruits] of the travail of his soul [in the grand restitution of the redeemed race] and shall be satisfied." And here the Prophet interjects the statement that it was our Lord's knowledge of the divine plan or purpose to redeem and then restore the fallen race that enabled him to thus carry out that purpose in the sacrifice of himself, thus justifying many by bearing the penalty due for their iniquities--"By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities."

Verse 12 points to the great personal exaltation of our blessed Lord Jesus, because of his obedience to the Father's will, even unto death.--"Therefore will I [Jehovah] divide him a portion with the Great [rab--the Lord, the Chief, the Master of the whole universe, Jehovah himself]." Because of his faithfulness he was highly exalted, made a partaker of the divine nature, and was associated with his Father in his throne. (See Phil. 2:9; Rev. 3:21.) And not only so, but he has been permitted of God to carry out another feature of his plan in the selection, training and final exaltation of a faithful few from among the redeemed race to share his great reward--to become likewise "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Pet. 1:4) and "joint-heirs" of his kingdom and glory (Rom. 8:17; Luke 12:32)--Thus "he shall divide the spoil [the great reward] with the strong"--the overcomers. In accordance with this privilege granted him by the Father he left the gracious promise on record for us--"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne."--Rev. 3:21.